


Loving you must be a personality trait of mine

by novacorpsrecruit



Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Marvel Comics, Spider-Man (Comicverse)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 13:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15487311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novacorpsrecruit/pseuds/novacorpsrecruit
Summary: "If you don't fuck him, I'm going to!" "Who, Kaine?" "Johnny."alt. title: "Spideytorch: the one where everyone is in love with Johnny"





	Loving you must be a personality trait of mine

Peter had his fair share of Kaine yellings. Anyone who knows Kaine has. Usually they were instigated or well-deserved. But Peter had no clue why Kaine came slamming into his apartment yelling at him and Ben when they had done nothing wrong tonight except for binge on junk food.

“If you don’t fuck him, I’m going to!”

“If I don’t _what who?"_  Peter asked.

“Kaine, this is exactly why we don’t invite you to movie night,” Ben groaned, reaching for the remote to pause the movie.

“ _Who_ , Kaine?” Peter repeated.

“ _Him._ ”

Kaine stood rigidly, fists tightly balled. Peter waited, for some sort of an explanation. Why Kaine decided to stop by now, during movie night of all times. Who ‘ _him_ ’ was. Peter glanced over at Ben, as if he could tell him who Kaine was talking about.

Peter’s eyes grew.

“What – no – I’m not – you’re not – nobody’s fucking Ben.”

“ _What,_ ” Ben breathed. “How did you – _what_?”

“Not him,” Kaine snapped. “Johnny.”

“Johnny?” Peter repeated before laughing. “ _Johnny_?”

Kaine crossed his arms. Ben leaned back into the couch.

“Johnny,” Peter said again. “As in Johnny Storm?”

“What other Johnny are you in love with?” Kaine said accusingly.

“Whoa, wait,” Peter said. “In _love_ _with_? What are you talking about?”

Kaine clenched his jaw. He glanced over at Ben, who was avoiding eye contact.

“In love with Johnny,” Kaine repeated. “Ben knows what I’m talking about.”

Peter turned to look at Ben. Ben pressed his lips together, hesitated before exhaling loudly. “I … don’t want to comment.”

“Fine,” Kaine said, throwing his hands in the air before walking to the kitchen table and sitting down in a huff. “Let me suffer alone.” He leaned back and pressed the heel of his palms into his eyes. If he pushed hard enough, maybe he could go blind and end his suffering.

God, no.

He would still have to listen to Johnny talk.

“I just wanted a coffee,” Kaine groaned. “And there he was – just … _there!”_

“Just … there?” Peter said, throwing a pillow at Kaine, hitting Kaine in the head. Kaine picked up the pillow, hurling it back to Peter, who caught it.

“Yeah – I mean – _he talked_ , you know him,” Kaine said. “You know Johnny … God, you _know_ him and you’re not … ? God!” He groaned, “I got the short end of the stick.”

“So what?” Peter said. “You’re into him and he talked to you. You got a crush, that’s it. Why is it my fault?”

“Why is it – I’m practically you!” Kaine threw a half empty water bottle off the table towards Peter. Peter caught it, setting it on the coffee table. “And he’s your friend!”

“So?” Peter said, throwing his hands in the air. “What am I? His keeper?”

“So I can fuck him?”

“Wait, I didn’t say –“

“Wait, that’s on the table?” Ben asked, leaning forward. “If I knew that he’d be okay with that, I would’ve slept with Johnny months ago.”

“Nobody’s sleeping with Johnny!” Peter groaned.

“I thought you weren’t his keeper?” Kaine asked.

“Don’t use my words against me!”

Kaine pointed to Ben. “I fucking knew it, by the way. Thanks for letting me suffer alone.”

“Yeah, like suffering together would’ve been any better,” Ben rolled his eyes.

“Well, now we get to!” Kaine griped. “I had to listen to him talk for fifteen minutes today and all I could do was –“

“Stare at his lips?” Ben asked.

“Yes,” Kaine groaned. “Then he told me that if I grew my hair out again, I should try a man bun and I had to bolt before I even thought about hair-pulling.”

“Can you not talk about him that way?” Peter whined, leaning back on the couch. “He’s my friend.”

“Then tell your friend not to grope my bicep and ask if I do CrossFit!”

“He did _what_?” Peter asked, turning in his seat to look back at Kaine.

“There’s the jealous tone,” Ben said teasingly.

“I’m not jealous!” Peter snapped.

“Then you don’t mind if we ask him out,” Kaine said. “It’s like you said, you’re not his keeper and you’re not jealous. So we might as well take our chances. Right, Ben?”

“Right,” Ben nodded.

“Together?” Peter said, begrudgingly. He didn’t want to argue, because he knew Kaine would feel like his point was proven right. Peter just cares about his best friend, and he’s not sure how comfortable he is with Johnny sleeping with one of his clones.

“No, like … like a competition,” Ben said, gesturing to Kaine. “First one to get Johnny wins.”

“Alright,” Kaine said, standing up and walking to the other side of the apartment. “So first one to the Baxter Building wins.”

“No, no, no,” Peter said standing up to grab Kaine’s arm. “There’s … rules.”

“Rules?” Kaine said, yanking his arm away from Peter. “You have rules for a game that _you’re_ not playing.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Peter nodded, he threw his hands out in front of him in frustration before running his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. So, rule number one: You can’t just swing over to the Baxter Building.”

“Okay,” Ben said, reaching for his phone. “Sounds easy enough –“

“Rule two: You can’t text him for a bootycall.” Peter’s mouth felt dirty for referring to Johnny as a bootycall. Ben set his phone back down on the coffee table, palms raised to claim innocence.

“What else, Gatekeeper?” Kaine said.

“Treat him with respect,” Peter said, pointing at the two of them, more to Kaine than Ben. “You can’t just ask him to fuck unless he brings it up. You take him out on a nice date.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Ben rolled his eyes. “I think we know how to date.”

“You can’t start until tomorrow morning,” Peter said. “Don’t go out looking for him tonight. That’s unfair.”

“Unfair to who?” Kaine crossed his arms. “To Johnny?”

“Yeah, to Johnny,” Peter mimicked Kaine’s body language. “You _know_ he’s probably out.”

“Whatever,” Kaine said. “First one to fuck Johnny –“

“Don’t just fuck him –“

“First one to fuck Johnny wins,” Kaine said. Ben nodded in agreement.

“God, I fucking hate both of you,” Peter groaned, shoving the pillow in his face hoping that death would find him soon.

\----

Peter and Ben’s movie night ended early. A once-every-two-months occurrence ended early, ruined actually, by Ben and Kaine’s endless lust for Johnny. Peter had to get out of the apartment. He couldn’t sit and think about what he had to suffer through.

He honestly should see a therapist after what he went through.

After they finalized the rules of the competition, Ben and Kaine continued to complain about Johnny. His crystal blue eyes. His sharp jaw. Kaine even griped about Johnny’s “fucking soft-looking lips”. Then Ben brought up last month’s GQ issue and Johnny’s full spread and Peter had to usher them out before he threw himself out the window.

Which he ended up doing after they left anyway.

He needed to get the whack feeling out of his gut out. All he needed was a little physical therapy. Punching someone else’s gut should do the trick. It always does.

God. They must have known they were getting on Peter’s nerves and just … kept going. He hated how they kept going and going about how attractive Johnny is. Peter gets it. Johnny’s hot. Everybody – especially Johnny – knows it. But Johnny is his best friend, and hearing his brothers talk about how they wanted to fuck him was excruciating.

His gut twisted with every word they said about him.

“You know, he flirts with us, right?” Kaine asked, halfway out the door. “You should think about that.”

God, what does Kaine know?

Six extra inches of height, and he thinks that he’s the older brother. Maybe if Peter hocked a loogie in his face, he’d remember Peter has at least 25 years on him. Kaine’s practically a toddler.

“Hey Webhead!”

Peter swore under his breath. After listening to Ben and Kaine, Johnny was the last person he wanted to see tonight. He wondered if he could out swing Johnny.

“Spidey!”

“Hey, Hot Stuff,” Peter said, keeping a steady pace, fully knowing Johnny was going to catch up to him. “Up for a little crime fighting?”

“With you?” Johnny winked. “Always.”

“Sweet.” Peter glanced at Johnny, pressing his lips together as he imagined Ben or Kaine swinging next to Johnny on late nights. He looked forward, instantly regretting inviting Johnny along. “I’m about done for the night though,” He lied. “But I’m down for a few more punches. Good punches. Hard ones.”

“Alright, tough guy,” Johnny laughed. “You gonna tell me what’s eating you tonight? Or am I going to have to guess?”

“You want to guess which fast food place’s ice cream machine is broke?”

“You really should eat somewhere else,” Johnny said. “Honestly, you really should eat out of your fridge.”

“I do that –“

“Leftover fast food doesn’t count,” Johnny laughed. “Hey, actually. I need to talk with you.”

 “Are you actually going to give me a lecture about my eating habits?”

“No, I –“ Johnny hesitated for a moment before gesturing to a nearby building. “Can we pull over for a moment.”

“Yeah, sure, Torch,” Peter said, swinging toward the roof. Johnny beat him there, only flaming off as soon as Peter landed. Johnny opened his mouth before closing it, almost as if he was hesitating about what he wanted to say.

The longer Johnny thought about how he was going to form his question, the more time Peter had to study him. The more time Peter thought about what Ben and Kaine had said. About how his crystal blue eyes could still be seen beyond his flames, and how they seemed brighter after he just flamed off. How his jaw tightened ever-slightly when he’s thinking. Kaine was right. Johnny’s lips do look soft, and the way he bit his lip was kind of --

“Do you know why your … brothers texted me?”

“What?”

“Ben and Kaine texted me,” Johnny said plainly. “Like, fifteen minutes ago. Out of the blue.”

“Both of them?”

“Both of them.”

“Because they’re liars,” Peter groaned. They shook on the rules. Fucking liars. “What did they say?”

Johnny inhaled deeply, almost as if he was contemplating whether or not he wanted to say. “Ben asked what I was up to.”

“And Kaine?” Peter asked.

“He … he was pretty straight forward,” Johnny nodded awkwardly. Peter waited for Johnny to continue, wanting him to elaborate more. Johnny sighed, looking away from Peter. “DTF.”

“Down to –“ Peter rubbed the palm of his hand against his face, sighing. “ _Fuck_. I’m going to kill him.”

“Peter –“

“ _Both_ of them,” Peter clarified. “Mostly Kaine.”

“Okay, we’re on the same page,” Johnny nodded. “Cool. Alright. So … can I?”

“Can you what, Johnny?”

“I mean,” Johnny shrugged. “It’s a booty call. Do you mind?”

“Do I --?” Peter wrinkled his brow. “Yes, I mind!”

“Why?”

“Why – Johnny, you know they’re more than just – “ Peter stopped, trying to figure out the best way to say it. He sighed, giving up. “You _know_ they are my clones.”

“Yeah. So?” Johnny crossed his arms.

“So? So!” Peter threw his hands in the air. “They’re practically me!”

“But they’re not you!” Johnny raised his voice. “You’re the one who has been stressing this for – for God knows how long! They’re different. They’re not you! So why do you care?”

Peter knows he shouldn’t care. But he does.

He told Ben and Kaine it was fine, even when it wasn’t. He went along with the competition, begrudgingly, but he went along with it. But he couldn’t get the knot out of his stomach.

He ran his hands over his head, storming away from Johnny to the other side of the roof. He doesn’t need to explain that he just wanted to protect his best friend. He loved him, and he couldn’t just let Ben or Kaine take him away from him.

God.

Peter was an idiot.

He turned on his heel and looked back at Johnny, throwing a hand in the air in defeat.

“Because they’re not me, Johnny,” Peter sighed. “I’ve tried to figure out all night why picturing you with Kaine or Ben was bugging me so much. And it’s because they’re not me.”

“Peter –“

“And I don’t care if you don’t feel the same way,” Peter paused for a moment. “Okay, yeah I care. But I can’t just sit back and watch you with Ben or Kaine.”

 “So don’t,” Johnny said, walking toward Peter. “Peter –“

“Please don’t lecture me, Johnny,” Peter said. “I know you can do whatever – _whoever_ you want. Just … not them. Please.”

“Let me finish,” Johnny said. He stopped in front of Peter, closer than Peter was expecting. “Peter, there’s a reason why I was considering answering them.”

Johnny rolled up Peter’s mask to his nose, his touch gentle against Peter’s jaw. He leaned in, catching Peter’s lips with his own.  

“Because they looked like you,” Johnny said, running his thumb against Peter’s cheekbone. “Because for a night, I could pretend that you loved me back.”

“You don’t have to pretend,” Peter said, leaning back in against Johnny’s lips. “Not tonight, not anymore.”

“Who knew flirting with Kaine would finally get the job done,” Johnny mumbled against Peter’s lips. “Let’s go back to your place, order take out, watch a movie?”

“I don’t know how much of the movie I can watch with you there,” Peter smirked. “But yeah, I’m down for take out and make out.”

“Romantic,” Johnny said, his voice dripped with sarcasm but his smile stayed in place. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Give me a second,” Peter said, pressing a quick kiss against Johnny’s lips once more before rolling down his mask. “I’ll meet you there. I need to do something really quick.”

“Yeah, okay,” Johnny said, his hand lingered against Peter’s jaw. He stepped away before flaming on. “Yeah. Meet you there in a few.”

Peter waited until Johnny took flight before he pulled out his cell phone to send a quick text.

_To: Kaine Parker, Ben Reilly_

_PP: Game's off. He’s mine._


End file.
